Roman Polanski's "Ghost Writer" tops Europe film awards

LONDON (Reuters) - French-Polish director Roman Polanski's political thriller "The Ghost Writer" swept the European Film Awards on Saturday, picking up six prizes including best movie, director, actor and screenplay.

The annual awards, held this year in the Estonian capital Tallinn, also honoured Israeli war drama "Lebanon," shot almost entirely from inside a tank. Lebanon won the coveted Golden Lion at the Venice film festival in 2009.

Polanski, who spent several months this year under house arrest in Switzerland but avoided extradition to the United States in connection with a 1977 sex crime, did not attend the prize ceremony but appeared via Skype from his Paris home.

Polanski was named best director, the movie -- with a lead role loosely based on former British prime minister Tony Blair -- was best European film, its star Ewan McGregor picked up the best actor award and Polanski and Robert Harris won the best script writer category.